Champ: Nick
HSI III
Las Vegas, NV
June 8 - 12, 2003
T 2nd: Sheebz
T 2nd: Kurt Brandstatter
4th: JJ
Stats
Sunday, June 8, 2003
For the first time at an HSI there were no problems at the airport. JJ and Lacy arrived in the morning, Sheebz and Lisa arrived at noon, Kurt and Nick had driven in the night before. Around noon, everybody got together in JJ's room at Bally's Hotel. The trophy was unpacked from Sheebz suitcase and put on display for all to see (this would prove to be a costly mistake for Sheebz). Everybody went to a hamburger joint for a late lunch. The evening was spent wandering around some casinos and doing a little gambling at Barbary Coast. Kurt was working the blackjack table, Nick tried the video poker/blackjack, and JJ and Sheebz just sat and had a few drinks. The first tee time for HSI was on Monday morning
Monday, June 9, 2003
A.M.
- The players departed the hotel at 6:45 a.m. and headed to
TPC @ the
Canyons for an 8:03 a.m. tee time. This course was a desert
style course but not real tight. It was a tough course to play for
the first time because of some blind shots. It was apparent pretty
early that JJ had a bad case of the shanks when he went head-hunting for
some of the staff and assaulted a sprinkler pedestal. The greens
had just been aerated a week before, so they were pretty bumpy.
Overall, this was a nice course but not spectacular. This was the
only round of golf on Monday.
P.M. - That evening we went to a show called "O" - Cirque du Soleil at The Bellagio. It was an entire show on/in/under/over water. Very impressive. After the show we all had dinner in a restaurant at The Monte Carlo. After dinner Nick, JJ, and Sheebz went for a walk on the strip and went through many of the casinos. Sheebz made a good addition to his adult picture collection by gathering up as many "entertainment" cards as he could. They ended up at Treasure Island where they spent the early morning hours.
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
P.M.
- The only round of golf today was at 3:00 p.m. at
Dragon Ridge Golf Club.
This was another target golf style course southeast of the Strip up in
the hills. This was a truly beautiful course. The views of
the strip were amazing and the course was very nice. The wind was
blowing very hard which made the golf extremely difficult as the low
score was Kurt's 92. This was also the first time that Nick's
unique follow through was captured on film. It involves a swing,
two hops on the right foot, and then some clothing adjustments. It
seemed to work well as Nick hit 10 of 14 fairways.
That evening dinner was at the buffet at The Paris and then some general casino time. Early the next morning, Nick went to a show all by himself as his roommate and a guest provided the entertainment.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
A.M.
- All four golfers made it out the door in time for the 7:32 a.m. tee
time at
Stallion Mountain - Citation. This was the first of two rounds
at the Stallion Mountain course. This was a traditional style golf
course (not desert) and was average at best. The greens were very
sandy and not in great shape.
P.M. - The second round began at 1:00 p.m. on the Man 'O War course at Stallion Mountain. This course was nicer than the morning course. However, all of the players were exhausted and the temperature was over 100 again. This is the round where Nick put a strangle hold on the HSI trophy with a big win on the par 3 12th hole. The foursome came limping into the end of the round and were glad to be headed back to the hotel.
Dinner that evening was at le Provencal, a restaurant in The Paris. It was the best meal experience of the week.
Thursday, June 12, 2003
A.M.
- The final round of HSI 3 began at 8:04 a.m. at
Desert Pines. This course is billed as "The Pinehurst of the
West." It was a tight course lined with pine trees on both sides
of the fairway. On the scorecard, the course was listed at 6,464
yards. However, the course probably wasn't playing much more than
6,000 yards, which the players took advantage of. All of the par
5s were under 500 yards, and several par 4s were under 300 yards.
Kurt took advantage of his length and smoked this course with a 3-over
74 which included a 1-under par 35 on the back nine.
P.M. - The trip was over and it was time to head back home. The HSI trophy left Sheebz for the first time and was presented to Nick. Future plans were discussed. We discussed having HSI 4 in Colorado sometime in the Spring/Summer of 2004.